was really late to the game on this series, only discovered it via Netflix last Summer, and really took to it quickly. Totally understand the small cult following this generated. Looking forward to this new release as a full fledged fan

Started a binge at about 7 this morning and finished up maybe 40 minutes ago. It was glorious. The callbacks, the "Showstealer" gag, the new developments, that last scene. I didn't even care that Lindsay and Lucille 2 had totally different faces from Season 3. It was awesome. Can't wait for the next round through and to start going episode by episode.

Yeah, I had a nerd moment with the MST3K guys in there. That was pretty cool.

Slevin, the second half pays off a lot of the setup in the first, running gags, etc. How is it broken up? I thought in watching it all at once, you got a lot of answers right away to things that were put out there in the first few episodes.

A few days before it was released, Mitch Herwitz came out and said don't watch it all at once, because by the end, it wouldn't seem funny anymore. I thought it was even funnier as I went through though, and it was a long time, yeah, but I think what he wasn't accounting for is the fact that people who've been watching Arrested Development DVDs for six years probably aren't just going to watch season 4 once and then be done with it either.

Yeah, I agree. I was practically giddy with all the running gags and concurrent activity by the Maeby episode. There is a lot of setup to get through though, particularly that first episode.

The dude who reviewed it for the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/arts/ ... ixcom.html) apparently only got the first eight episodes to review, and he panned it. I couldn't help but wonder if that review wouldn't have been different if he'd seen the whole season.

Also, with as packed as these 32-minute episodes were, I don't know how anyone involved in making the show thinks it could work as a movie.

but if you truly loved them, it’s hard to imagine being anything but disappointed with this new rendition.

I think the regular series was a 'slow cook' process and this new season is just that. It takes a while to adjust to the format, but it's just as rewarding. It's always been a show that you have to dig for the jokes, and this is fertile ground. So to speak.

Actually, it looks like he watched the first eight either by choice or by time constraint, not access.

Quote:

...But watching 8 of the 15 new episodes — the biggest binge I could manage before deadline — it seemed likely that the on-demand, all-at-once possibilities of online streaming...

The reviewer put four hours in, and I don't know what his time constraint was, but I could easily see the first episode or two turning him off, particularly when he's looking for 20 minute plots, not a series of plots over eight hours.

I've only had time to watch the first three, but I don't know how anyone that was previously a fan of the show could be disappointed after the Michael and Lindsay episodes. Michael's just made me think "maybe you can go home again", and Lindsay's was one of the funniest AD episodes I've ever seen. It was funny right out of the gate with Howard's throat clearing, which was an absolutely perfect opener. If things only get better as the episodes progress...yeah, fuck that NYT guy.

I watched four episodes, was asleep by the fifth because I thought it was so terrible. I don't know if I can honestly watch anymore I was so turned off by it.

I loved that show by the third season, and laughed my ass off. These new episodes, I just didn't find them funny, and the characters just aren't portrayed with the same vibrance or playfulness. It really feels like they've taken for granted what attracted the audience to the show's personalities and interpersonal relationships to begin with. The dualing senses of dysfunction and endearment I feel for the characters is gone completely. I feel no connection with any of their current persona in this new season.

Episodes 1-4 were just real stinkers from my perspective. Perhaps my sense of humor has changed, I just thought it was really forced and ho-hum. The extensive cameos really reinforce that sense, as well as the sense of disconnect.

I was really looking forward to this, and it just doesn't feel right at all. Really bummed...